Contact Information

Education

Pamela Ebstyne King joined Fuller as assistant professor of marital and family studies in 2008, after serving the School of Psychology for eight years as an adjunct and research professor. In 2014 she was named Peter L. Benson Associate Professor of Applied Developmental Science. Dr. King works with the Thrive Center for Human Development and is actively engaged with the Fuller Youth institute.

King’s primary academic interests are applied research at the intersection of human thriving and spiritual development. She is passionate about understanding what enables youth to thrive and become all God created them to be. She holds particular interest in understanding the role of faith, spirituality, and religion in this process. To this end she has led in building an empirical field of study of religious and spiritual development within developmental psychology.

Her current research includes studies on environments that promote thriving and on the nature and function of spiritual development in diverse adolescents and emerging adults. She has extensively studied and written on conceptualizations of thriving and positive youth development. Her work combines theology, empirical research, and community engagement to further understand what contexts and settings enable youth to thrive. She has conducted research funded by Biologos Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, and Tyndale House. In addition to her scholarship, she finds deep joy in teaching and mentoring students at Fuller.

King is coauthor of The Reciprocating Self: Human Development in Theological Perspective, coeditor of The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence, and coauthor of the forthcoming and inaugural chapter on research on religious and spiritual development in the seventh edition of the Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science. She has served on the editorial boards of Developmental Psychology, Journal of Positive Psychology, Applied Developmental Science, the Encyclopedia of Applied Developmental Science, and the Encyclopedia of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence. She has also published articles in the Journal on Adolescent Research, Journal of Early Adolescence, New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, and Journal of Psychology and Christianity. King is a member of the Society for Research on Adolescents, Society for Research on Child Development, and Division 36 of the American Psychological Association.

In addition to her studies at Fuller, King completed her undergraduate studies at Stanford University and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford’s Center on Adolescence; she was a visiting scholar under the divinity faculty at Cambridge University. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), she has led high school and college ministries and regularly speaks and consults for various community organizations and churches. She lives in Pasadena with her husband, Brad, and their three children, Aidan, Rhys, and Jocelyn.